Security
Company owners sometimes say we don’t have to worry about security; it is OK for everyone to be able to access anything. This is rarely the case.
The sharing of resources is a great benefit to modern business, but it must be controlled. Just as few departments allow anyone to browse through their filing cabinets, controlling access to electronic data is also important. HR data is always sensitive and needs to be restricted as does payroll data.
Staff often move to competing companies so allowing everyone free range over commercial data runs a great risk of valuable data falling into the hands of a competitor.
Mobile devices like phones and personal organisers often have sensitive data like email and customer contacts. Keeping them secure is often over looked.
Accidental deletion of data is not uncommon, so the more it is controlled the less the risk.
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Virus Protection
The importance of virus protection cannot be overstated. A computer virus can cause untold damage to data. The choice of antivirus software is a difficult one. There are many factors to consider: what type of protection does it provide; will it affect performance; how reliable is it; how much will it cost? Atomik.biz will help you make the right choice.
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Account Security
In a well managed network the weakest link is always the user. Enforcing a strong password policy and educating users to keep their password secure is an important part of network security. Balance is also important. There is no point in making the policy so secure it makes life hard for everyday use.
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Physical Security
One aspect of computer security that is often over looked is the physical security of servers, computers and network devices.
If someone is able to steal a server then the operation of the company will be severely disrupted. Assuming all data is backed up and recoverable, obtaining suitable hardware and restoring from backup is going to take days at a minimum. Also once the server is stolen breaking into the data can be done at the thief’s leisure, probably by removing the disks and reading them from another machine.
The theft of a workstation is more likely especially a laptop. Company laptops often contain data that might be useful to a competitor or just damaging if it falls into the wrong hands. Hand held devices and smart phones are probably at the greatest risk of theft. These contain email and contacts that might be misused.
These are all obvious risks but there are many more to consider.
- Is physical access to servers controlled?
- Are equipment cabinets locked and keys kept securely?
- Are the cases of computers locked against theft of hardware?
- Do machines have disk drives and USB ports where data could be copied?
- Could someone access the wired network with their own laptop?
- Allowing non company equipment access to the network could introduce a virus
- Could someone boot a PC using a compact disk, floppy or USB key to access data?
- Is movable hardware like laptops, computers and printers physically locked down?
- Does the company have a procedure for tracking company hardware and software?
- Can hand held devices be remotely wiped if lost or stolen?
- Rack mounted equipment is more secure